Thursday 31 May 2012 18.00 EDT
First published on Thursday 31 May 2012 18.00 EDT

It takes a lot to get Andy Murray angry. But he was red-lining just this side of apoplexy when told that Virginia Wade, whom he has known since he was young, had called him "a drama queen" during his heroic comeback against Jarkko Nieminen in the second round of the French Open.

Wade, the former Wimbledon champion, observed on Eurosport: "I have tremendous sympathy that his back is bad but I have more sympathy for the other guy as, honestly, you cannot play against someone who is being a drama queen."

Murray woke up with back spasms and struggled to put weight on his left leg after pre-match practice but decided to risk it against a player he has comfortably beaten three times.

For most of the first set he clutched his back, stepped stiffly over the clay and struggled to heave his serves across the net at 60 miles an hour before recovering to beat the bewildered Finn 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and 27 minutes of gripping theatre on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Scot needed three courtside visits by the ATP physio but was moving freely at the end.

However, he was still in pain an hour after the match and said he would wait until he had had further treatment before committing to playing in the third round on Saturday against Santiago Giraldo. As he saw it, he would almost certainly play.

Nieminen did not complain on court or afterwards of being affected by Murray's actions. "I was moving bad and I made a lot of unforced errors [51]," he said. "I don't think he was acting."

Yet Wade commented: "I would like him to deal with it without him looking like he was quitting. It does not do him any favours to then annihilate his opponent. Nieminen got distracted."

An hour after the match Murray gathered his thoughts before responding: "To me that's quite disappointing, to be honest. I know how I felt on the court. I know how bad it was. And then you have people like that who always have to come out and say something controversial when, really, they should be supportive or maybe ask me a question first before commenting on it.

"I've known her since I was a really young kid. She used to do coaching stuff with my mum since I was a really young child. She has no idea what I was feeling on the court. She doesn't know what was happening 20 minutes before I went out on to the court, what I was feeling, what I was doing.

"It is lonely [on court] but before the match I was there with the guys, talking about what I should do, and then, when I was out on the court, especially the first few sets, I wasn't looking up at anyone or engaging with anything they were saying at all, because I was just so down about how I was feeling.

"And I don't really see what the point would be in play-acting, going down 6-1, 4-2. I don't really see what the point would be in putting yourself in a position where you're about to lose, and stop the match, and then somehow manage to turn it around."

Jim Courier, who has won here twice, said on ITV he thought Murray should have quit as soon as his back started seizing up and that he would be better leaving Paris to receive extended treatment before Wimbledon and the Olympics, where he had more realistic prospects of winning.

After criticism from the former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker last week that he was foolish to risk aggravating his back injury, Murray could be forgiven for thinking he didn't have a friend in the commentariat among former players.

Murray was keen to make the point that the spasm that cut him down was not the same chronic back complaint that has plagued him since December, although he declined to elaborate on the nature of that injury.

It did force him to withdraw from Madrid recently and was almost certainly a contributing factor in his disappointing early exit in Barcelona.

He admitted his coaching team advised him to quit at the end of the first set and he thought about it. "I just decided to keep going," he said. "Obviously it turned around dramatically."

You could say that. Nieminen, ranked 48 in the world, had his foot on his throat from the moment he heard Murray's painful groan when serving and was still mostly in charge until Murray rallied at the end of the second set.

Thereafter, the world No 4 hit a beautiful rhythm, stroking winners on both flanks, chipping and lobbing with exquisite touch, but rarely getting his serve above 110 miles an hour.

He breezed through the last two sets and Nieminen disintegrated in front of him almost as spectacularly as Murray had done a couple of hours earlier.